How to KNOW When Your Tires Were MANUFACTURED

A co-worker sent me an email synopsis of a ABC News --20/20 investigation. If anyone can validate--or disprove info--please do! Otherwise, I thought this info could be helpful to this community.

Tires have a cryptic code on the sidewall. If the tire was manf'd in 2000 or newer, the sidewall should have a Alpha-Numeric series beginning w/ "DOT", and followed by (3) groups of (4) letters/numbers--or (12) digits.

The first group of (4) = first (2) letters/numbers are DOT plant code + next (2) letters/numbers are DOT tire size code.
The second group of (4) = manfr's tire model/brand designation
The third group of (4) = first (2) numbers identify the week of year the was made--this should be 01 thru 52 + next (2) identify year--so this should be 00 thru 12 (for now). EG, if last (4) digits are 1008, like my tires, it means tires made made in the TENTH WEEK of YEAR 08, which is 2008.

Now, if tires were made in the 90s, the third group of (4) digits will only have (3) digits. The first (2) digits indicate week of year as above, and the third digit indicates the year in the 1990s it was made.

I say, safety first, and do not pay for old rubber--so check the sidewall before you make the purchase.

Happy travels!

That ABC 20/20 "Investigation" is OLD.

Yes, tire age has an effect, but the effect is minor. If I remember right, in that broadcast they kept showing tire tread all over the road, but the problem was, those were retreads off of 18 wheelers.

The whole story was overhyped and overblown and not near the issue that they tried to make it to be.

The say to be safe, replace your tires every five years regardless of tread depth. Tires can go bad from the inside as well, and you can't see that.

They say a lot of things. If you're good enough with a car to mod it, you're good enough to check your tires' condition and not just wing it. Why spend money because an arbitrary amount of time has passed?

How many times have your tires blown out on you? How many people do you know that have had tires on their cars blow out on them?

I agree that old tires that are dry rotted, cracked, or old biased ply tires should not be used. But throwing away tires that are 5 years old is just crazy. I only drive my truck 2-3000 miles a year. I'm not going to throw away my tires when they only have 10-15k miles on them.

Originally Posted by Zef_66

How many times have your tires blown out on you? How many people do you know that have had tires on their cars blow out on them?

About 15 yrs ago I had 79 Int'l Scout II, a real beater, rust-bucket, & tough as nails--the 'Cheater'. 4 mismatched, bad tires--front right tread delaminated when I was on free-way. I never, ever want to be that scared again.

I am wheel & tire shopping now, & it was coinicident that I received the info. I'm on a budget & am looking on ebay, craigslist, and tirerack. If I find a used set, this will help me decide, & not have to rely soley on what the seller tells me. If I decide to spend $550-$700 on 'new' tires on internet & I see they were made 4 yrs ago, you bet your butt I'm returning them.

I started post to share knowledge, like understanding RPO & VIN codes, not really to debate the integrity of 20/20 (I nevev even saw actual show) or even how old is 'too old.' I just wanted to shread the info so people know what they are actually getting for their $.

Thanks

i cant even tell you how many real, like you hear it go boom, blow outs ive had. old cars new trucks, all had good tires, they just blew up on me. lucky for me all were rear tires except for one. and that was a d/s front tire on my 03 gmc, with 33's on it, truck handled just fine after it blew up to my surprise. all the way to the shoulder lol

we wont get into how many roll off truck tires have just gone boom, ( lots) a car sounds like a hand gun, the big trucks sounds like a shot gun, and it moves the truck.

Originally Posted by Mr D

About 15 yrs ago I had 79 Int'l Scout II, a real beater, rust-bucket, & tough as nails--the 'Cheater'. 4 mismatched, bad tires--front right tread delaminated when I was on free-way. I never, ever want to be that scared again.

I am wheel & tire shopping now, & it was coinicident that I received the info. I'm on a budget & am looking on ebay, craigslist, and tirerack. If I find a used set, this will help me decide, & not have to rely soley on what the seller tells me. If I decide to spend $550-$700 on 'new' tires on internet & I see they were made 4 yrs ago, you bet your butt I'm returning them.

I started post to share knowledge, like understanding RPO & VIN codes, not really to debate the integrity of 20/20 (I nevev even saw actual show) or even how old is 'too old.' I just wanted to shread the info so people know what they are actually getting for their $.

Thanks

That's a good point - no sense in getting new tires that will dry rot sooner than they should.

There will be three sets of letters stated as a dot, abab-gxy- and then 2712 meaning the 27th week of 2012.

Did you even read the first post?